Even though we’re nearing the finish line of the pandemic, we’re still a ways away. There are those, on the right, who keep spreading confusion. There are also those at the top, such as President Joe Biden and the scientists who advise him, have warned against prematurely celebrating the defeat of COVID-19. On Monday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, even issued an emotional plea, warning of “Impending doom” should Americans let down their guard. Then again, mere hours later, she had extremely good news: It appears, based on new data, that those who’ve been fully vaccinated aren’t carriers of the virus.
“We’re vaccinating so very fast, our data from the CDC today suggests that vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick — and it’s not just in the clinical trials, but it’s also in real world data,” Walnesky told Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Monday night. She noted that 93 million Americans have received the first dose and 51 million both doses. “We can kind of almost see the end.”
Mind you, there are about 325 million people living in America right now, so even though three million vaccinations are being done a day, that’s still a while until the country is at something approaching herd immunity. Still, it was a marked change of tone from Walensky’s media appearance mere hours earlier — as though she realized she needed to offer some positive spin.
Walensky didn’t shy away from the darker news, especially since another major holiday is afoot. “On the other side, I’m watching the cases tick up,” Walensky said. “I’m watching us have increased numbers of hypertransmissible variants. I’m watching our travel numbers tick up. And the sense is, I have seen what it looks like to anticipate the oncoming surge. And what I really would hate to have happen is to have another oncoming surge just as we’re reaching towards getting so many more people vaccinated. You know, we’re still losing people at 1,000 deaths a day. And so I just can’t face another surge when there’s so much optimism right at our fingertips.”
So just to recap: For now it appears people who’ve gotten both doses — then waited two weeks for it to settle — can’t get infected and can’t carry the virus. But that currently only applies to less than a sixth of the population, so please continue as you were, for just a little bit longer.
You can watch Walensky’s full interview above.
(Via MSNBC)